OMG Radishes – Balsamic Sauteed Radishes

When I saw these twoposts on radishes over at Kalyn’s Kitchen, I was intrigued but not driven to make them. But over the next few days, this one called sauteed radishes with vinegar and herbs remained on my mind. And when I say it remained on my mind, I mean I was virtually obsessed with it. I had to have it. So I bought a bunch of radishes at the store and prepared to make it. As fate would have it, it took me another week to actually get it in the pan.

This morning, I decided I would quickly throw it together while Will napped to have with lunch. I made a few minor adjustments – using regular balsamic vinegar instead of golden balsamic, substituting extra light olive oil (since it’s cooked at such a high temperature, the good properties of extra virgin olive oil with be lost in the mix), and eliminating the herb finish. I just didn’t have any to use.

So how did it come out? Um, except for the five bits I saved for Will to try (since I think he will love it too), it didn’t make it to lunch. My one little bite (to try it out, of course) turned into two, which turned into almost the entire two-serving batch. This is a you-have-to-try-it dish.

But when I sat down to write this and started loading up the photos, which is always my first step to blogging, I got a little misty eyed. No, no, it’s not that the radishes were all gone! It’s that I realized this is a dish that my grandmother would have loved. She may have preferred simpler preparations to complex in her cooking, but she adored good food, good company and good conversation. Unfortunately, since she passed away when I was just 14, I never had the opportunity to cook for her.

But really, if I could have just one more day, cooking wouldn’t be my total focus – although I would want to spoil her with my time-developed skills. The focus would be on making the most of every single moment – making sure that she could enjoy Will, her great grandson, talking incessantly about everything she has missed and everything I hope for the future, showing off the photos from my graduations, wedding, Will’s birth and my latest ultrasound photos. Essentially, I would try to cram 13 years into a day.

I can’t have this day of my dreams. But maybe, someday, in some other dimension I will be able to. Who knows?

For now, I have my memories to share with my children, and old photos to help me go back in time, if only for a minute. And I have my cooking . . . to create new memories with my living family so that one day they can look back fondly too.About Radishes:
Radishes are a root plant with edible leaves (you can wash them and use them in salads if they are extra fresh). Although raw radishes have a pepper-y flavor, the intensity is greatly calmed when you saute them a bit. In terms of nutrition, radishes are low in calories (only two calories per radish) but rich in potassium (47.6 mg of potassium per radish, which is 1 percent of your daily intake. So if you eat 10, then you have 10 percent of your daily intake.) and even richer in vitamin C (8 percent of your daily intake per radish - wow!).

Comments

What a lovely post. Thanks for sharing the memories of your grandmother. I’m sure she would love having a day like that with you too. I’m so glad you liked the radishes. That’s just what happened to me, I just ate the whole thing for lunch so they never did manage to be a side dish at my house either.

Kalyn, thank you. It seems that the more time that passes, the more I remember her and wish she were here to share so much with me. As for the radishes, I am contemplating making more tonight. Let’s hope my cousin’s farm has them!

Hey there – what a lovely post! Maybe once Will is a bit older, you should have your dream food day and share it with Will (and the wee one) as a day to celebrate your grandmother! You can pass on some stories and from that point on, Will and the wee one will have stories and food to associate with your grandmother so that she lives on in your (and their) thoughts =)

p.s Thanks for the radish recipe. I keep seeing them and don’t buy them, not knowing what to make with them!

[…] The fierce peppery-ness just didn’t appeal to me at all. But then, a few years ago, I tried Balsamic Sauteed Radishes and it was a complete revelation. The peppery taste of the little, hard, red roots was completely […]